It has already been proposed to monitor the operation of a magnetic levitation railway automatically. To do this, in the past a measurement has been performed exclusively in the vehicle of the magnetic levitation railway. The velocity of the vehicle was usually measured and compared with a setpoint value. If an excessively high velocity was then detected, a message then had to be issued by radio to a fixed control and instrumentation unit which then interrupted the energy supply to the linear motor arranged in the route.
It has become apparent that the transmission of information from the traveling vehicle to the fixed control and instrumentation unit is susceptible to failure. Furthermore, the average time which passes between an excessively high velocity being detected and the energy supply being switched off is, at an average of 2.3 seconds, very high compared to the usually high velocity of a magnetic levitation railway.
For this reason in the past it has been necessary for a connecting route, which is required only in the event of a failure, to be installed beyond the stopping location at a terminus station.